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Classical News from Denny Hall volume 46 (2017)

Dear Friends of UW Classics,

2017 was a year of many comings and goings for the Classics Department at the University of Washington. In September 2016 the Department returned to the beautifully rebuilt Denny Hall. Our offices are in the same general area and the Meg Greenfield Room still serves as the departmental Seminar room, under the watchful gaze of the plaster casts of the Delphi Charioteer and Venus de Milo. It has been wonderful to be back at the center of campus and see students enjoying the pleasant and functional spaces in the building.

We welcomed new graduate students: Kaitlyn Boulding (BA Dalhousie), Sarah Brucia Breitenfeld (BA Skidmore), Muditha Dharmasiri (BA University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, Fulbright Fellow), Grace Funsten (BA Georgetown), Diana Molkova (BA Kyiv), and Danielle Petersen (BA Western Washington) have brought their vibrant perspectives on ancient Greece and Rome to Denny Hall. Meanwhile, UW Classics PhD students Matthew Gorey, Eunice Kim, and Adriana Vazquez defended their dissertations in summer 2017 before heading out to teaching positions at Bucknell, Gonzaga, and UCLA. As faculty we are grateful to have worked with each of them, and for their outstanding contributions in their roles as instructors in the department's courses: each has inspired many students to pursue further studies in Classics. In June we congratulated 2017's graduating seniors: Gessica Adornato, Alexis Allen, Timothy Gleghorn, Kayoung Kim, Brant McPherson, and Richard Russell.

In June we also welcomed back the members of the Department's Spring Quarter in Rome program. Students expressed deep gratitude for the travel funding awards that helped make their experiences in Rome possible. Looking ahead to the 2018 Rome program, we are delighted to announce that the Roseanna Wabel McDermott Endowed Fund for Study Abroad will be making awards to students pursuing study abroad experiences in Classics. The aim of this fund is to make study abroad experiences more accessible to students and its goals are aligned with the goals of the University's Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity and its Educational Opportunity Program: promoting academic success and graduation for under-represented ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged and first generation college students at the University of Washington.

New courses being taught in the Department include Professor Stroup's very innovative and popular course on STEM in Antiquity while faculty research highlights include Professor Hollmann's work on the decipherment and interpretation of ancient magical texts.

As always, we are deeply grateful for the support of everyone who has contributed to the success of the department. Recent donors to the Department are listed here. The teaching and research that happens in the department are strengthened in numerous ways by support of various kinds from our friends in the broader community. If your travels bring you to campus, we encourage you to let us know so that we can show you around the beautiful new Denny Hall.

Matthew Gorey, Eunice Kim, and Adriana Vazquez completed their PhDs in 2017.
In Atomism in the Aeneid: Physics, Politicas and Cosmological Disorder, Matthew Gorey combines philosophical and literary studies in his examination of the ways that Virgil responds to and transforms Epicurean ideas about a physical world made of atoms: "Virgil’s appropriation of Lucretian material conflates poetic, political, and cosmic narratives and blurs the boundaries between their respective modes of... Read more

"today has been one of many incredible days"
"something I am eternally grateful for"
"embraced by the city's rich past"
" suddenly the mental map of Pompeii that I’d formed in a class last year came to life"
These words made their way back to us from students who had the opportunity to participate in the spring 2017 quarter-long Rome Program.
While in years past most participants have been majors in the Department with some... Read more

We are delighted to announce that the Roseanna Wabel McDermott Endowed Fund for Study Abroad will be making awards to students of Classics pursuing study abroad. The Roseanna Wabel McDermott Endowed Fund for Study Abroad was established by Katherine E. McDermott, granddaughter of Roseanna. The intent of the fund is to provide financial assistance to students to make study abroad opportunities more accessible.
The fund will honor and remember Roseanna, while enabling students to grow personally... Read more

Over the past year, ancient Greek and Roman technology has become a visible presence in Classics' Denny Hall offices. Professor Sarah Stroup has been exploring STEM in Antiquity in Classics 314, her popular new course for undergraduates. Students from across the university study the ancient practioners of science and the ancient history of technological innovation across the fields of science, engineering, technology, mathematics and medicine.
In addition, over the course of the term students... Read more

Alex Hollmann spent Autumn Quarter 2016 as an NEH Fellow at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem where with Associate Fellow Robert Daniel of the University of Cologne he worked on deciphering a fascinating collection of curse tablets from Caesarea in northern Israel.
These tablets are thin sheets of lead of inscribed in Ancient Greek. The decipherment is part of the Magica Levantina Project affiliated with the... Read more